2019 election

This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

The 2019 general election will be held on Tuesday November 5, 2019. All 140 members of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates and State Senate) will be up for reelection. Locally will see the election of three members of Charlottesville City Council and three members of the Albemarle CountyBoard of Supervisors

Tuesday April 2, 2019: Parties last day to file for Primary to be held on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.[3]

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 5:45 PM in the Voter Registration and Elections Office, City Hall Annex Building, the Charlottesville Board of Elections will meet for the purpose of conducting a random draw to determine ballot order for the Democratic Primary for City Council among candidates who filed at the same time, in addition to normal business. This meeting was scheduled on March 12, 2019. [4] Under state election law, the order in which candidates’ names are listed on the primary ballot is determined by the order in which the candidates file for the election. Whenever primary candidates file at the same time, a drawing must be held.

Thursday April 25, 2019: Parties First day to file for General Election.[5]

Tuesday June 11, 2019 at 7:00 p.m.: Candidates last Day to file for General Election.[6]

Tuesday June 11, 2019: Parties last day to file for General Election.[7]

Tuesday, June 11, 2019: The primary for Democratic and Republican candidates. (If there are more candidates than seats, a primary election will be held.)[8] That will also be the deadline for independent candidates to qualify for the ballot.

Becoming a Candidate

Candidates for office must meet certain qualifications and are required to file specific documents in order to qualify to appear on the ballot. These qualifications and requirements may vary slightly depending on whether the office sought is a local office, a general assembly seat, a statewide office, or a federal office. Generally, all candidates must meet the following minimum qualifications:

Be qualified to vote for and hold the office sought, and

Be a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia for one year immediately preceding the election.

The board has developed and published candidate informational bulletins specific to each office type. (Local and Constitutional Offices Requirements for the June 11, 2019 Primary Elections and November 5, 2019 General Elections.) In addition to the qualifications, forms and filing requirements, candidate information bulletins provide candidates with information he/she will need to run for office.[9]

Albemarle County

Each Virginia county has an elected board of supervisors, which exercises legislative powers, enacting ordinances(local laws) and adopting an annual budget.

Albemarle County is divided into six magisterial (supervisor) districts.

City of Charlottesville

Each Virginia city has an elected city council, which exercises legislative powers, enacting ordinances and adopting an annual budget. Charlottesville's mayor is elected by the city council members.

General election will include: City Council (3 seats), City School Board (4 seats), Soil & Water Conservation District Director and the Clerk of Court.

City Council

There are three seats open on the Charlottesville City Council. The first terms of Councilor Wes Bellamy (D) and Mike Signer (D) are up, as well as the second term of Kathy Galvin (D). As of early March, neither Signer or Bellamy announced whether they would seek re-election, but Galvin is seeking the Democratic nomination in Virginia's 57th House District being vacated by David Toscano.

January 8, 2019: Housing activist Michael Payne announced his candidacy. Don Gathers was scheduled to announce on the same Progressives for Cville ticket, but has had to delay to health issues. It's unclear when or if he will re-enter the race. [27]

January 9, 2019: City resident and Democrat Sena Magill made her announcement. [28]

Thursday, January 10, 2019: Lloyd Snook announces his council bid and joined "a quickly growing field of candidates for three seats on Charlottesville City Council". [29]

January 10, 2019: Brian Pinkston, a project manager at the University of Virginia, will also run as a Democrat. [30]

February 18, 2019: Former Charlottesville City Councilor Bob Fenwick said that he will run as a Democrat for one of three vacant seats on the council. An official announcement is planned for March. [31]Bob Fenwick twice ran as an independent before becoming a Democrat in 2013.[citation needed]

Board member Amy Laufer will not seek a second term and resigned in January to move out of the city. [46]

Former member and chair Ned Michie will seek a return to the board on an interim basis to replace Laufer, as will Former City Councilor Kristin Szakos. It is not clear if they will seek the elected position. The School Board will make an appointment on February 21. [47]

Soil & Water Conservation District Director

Two city seats on the nonpartisan board of directors for the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District are up for election.[48]

Charlottesville's Clerk of the Circuit Court

The Office of Clerk of the Circuit Court is an elected office serving an 8-year term.
Incumbent Llezelle Dugger (D) is seeking re-election. [22]

Virginia General Assembly

Heading this off-year election, the Republican Party has a 51-49 majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. (Republicans also have a 21-19 majority in the State Senate. The governor is not up for election in 2019.)

House of Delegates

The Virginia House of Delegates is one of two parts in the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years. See also current Virginia House of Delegates Member Listings

House of Delegates 57th District

House of Delegates District 57 Description: Representing the 57th District, Charlottesville and part of Albemarle County

Hillary Clinton (D) received 79.68% of the vote in District 57 in the 2016 presidential election compared to 13.17% for Donald Trump (R).[49]

Incumbent Democrat David Toscano is serving his seventh term in the Virginia General Assembly. From November 2011 through December 2018, Toscano served as House Democratic Leader.

He was challenged in the Democratic primary by Sally Hudson, a professor at the University of Virginia. [22] However, Toscano announced his retirement from office on February 23, 2019. [50]

Charlottesville City Councilor Kathy Galvin is expected to formally announce on March 14 her run for the Democratic nomination as well. [51]

House of Delegates 58th District

House of Delegates District 58 Description: Representing Greene County and parts of Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Rockingham counties

Incumbent Republican Bob Bell was elected to the chamber in 2001 and was re-elected to a new term in 2017. He is seeking re-election.[22]

Democrat Elizabeth Alcorn announced in late February that she will seek her party's nomination for the seat. [52]

House of Delegates 25th District

House of Delegates District 25 Description: Representing counties of Albemarle (part), Augusta (part), and Rockingham (part)

Delegate Landes announced in early March that he would not seek a 13th term representing the 25th District.[53]

Soon after, three candidates came forward to contest the Republican nomination. They are businessman Chris Runion, Augusta County Supervisor and JMU professor Marshall Pattie and Albemarle County farmer Richard Fox. [29] Runion won the Republican primary on April 27 with 1,299 votes. Pattie received 1,041 votes and Fox received 744. [54]

State Senate

State Senate 25th District

District 25 Description: Covers part of Albemarle County, all of Charlottesville, Buena Vista, Covington and Lexington, and all of Alleghany, Bath, Nelson, Highland and Rockbridge counties

Representing the 25th District, Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, plans to seek re-election to the 25th District seat, which . He has served since 2001 and no candidates have emerged to challenge him. [22]

State Senate 17th District

District 17 Description: Orange County (All), Spotsylvania County (Part), Fredericksburg City (All), Culpeper County (Part), Albemarle County (Part), Louisa County (Part)

In the 17th District, Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, who is in his second term, will seek re-election. He is chairman of the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committee. Rich Breeden of Spotsylvania, vice president of Kingfisher Systems Inc., has announced plans to seek the Republican nomination for Reeves’ seat. [22]